More debates -- among education advisers

The Columbia University Teachers College hosted a debate between the main education advisers for the two campaigns on Tuesday. John McCain's chief education adviser Lisa Graham Keegan (who was certainly busy on Tuesday) faced off with Linda Darling Hammond, one of Barack Obama's main advisers.

You can read the transcript or register to view the webcast.

They're talking about education!

Not really. But education advisers for the two campaigns, Melody Barnes for Barack Obama, and Lisa Graham Keegan for John McCain, spoke on the Diane Rehm show on NPR on Tuesday. Other education experts on the program included Richard Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation and Mike Petrilli of the Fordham Institute. USA Today's education reporter, Greg Toppo, provided perspective. The big focus: What's the future of No Child Left Behind?

Donors from Academe Favor Obama by a Wide Margin

In The Chronicle of Higher Education this week, we take a look at giving to presidential candidates from college employees.

Professors, college administrators, and other educators have donated eight times as much to Barack Obama as they have to John McCain, the widest gulf in giving to presidential candidates by academics in the past five presidential elections, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Through the end of last month, donors from academe had contributed just over $12.2-million to Mr. Obama, compared with just over $1.5-million to Mr. McCain, according to the center, a nonprofit research group whose data on giving to presidential candidates date to the 1992 election.

For more details on giving from academe, see our story here.

Last Presidential Debate Includes First Direct Exchanges on Education

In the last question in the last of three presidential debates, John McCain and Barack Obama fielded their first, and only, question in these forums that focused squarely on education policy.

Near the end of the 90-minute event at Hofstra University, the debate’s moderator, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, asked the candidates to respond to trends that show that the United States spends more per capita on education than other countries yet trails many nations on measures such as students’ abilities to compete in mathematics and science. Mr. Schieffer asked whether that posed a national-security threat.

Senator Obama responded first, saying “this probably has more to do with our economic future than any” issue. He agreed that the problems Mr. Schieffer identified do have an effect on national security.

He said the nation’s education problems need to be fixed by spending more money and by reforming the system. He touted the importance of early-childhood education, said the United States needed to recruit a new generation of teachers, especially in math and science, and argued that the government should provide teachers with more professional development and better pay in exchange for being required to meet higher standards.

The Democrat said the United States needed to make college more affordable and help students who are taking on high levels of debt. Graduating from college with large amounts of loans, he said, deters students from pursuing some careers. He pitched his plan to provide students a tax credit of up to $4,000 for tuition in exchange for performing community service.

Senator Obama also challenged Senator McCain’s commitment to improving college access and affordability. The Democrat said one of his opponent’s advisers had responded to a question about why Mr. McCain didn’t have more-detailed higher-education proposals by saying that the government can’t give money to every interest group that comes along. “I don’t think America’s youth are interest groups,” Senator Obama said. “They’re our future.”

Senator McCain didn’t respond directly to that charge. In his answer to Mr. Schieffer, the Republican called education the “civil-rights issue of the 21st century” and said providing choice and competition among elementary and secondary schools would help improve inequities in the quality of education children receive.

He voiced support for programs like Teach for America and Troops to Teachers. He also urged changes in the student-loan programs that would make sure graduates are given repayment schedules they can meet and that would raise the maximum amount students can borrow in federally supported loans, pegging those increases to the rate of inflation.

Both candidates made passing references to college issues and education policy in other portions of the debate.

During a discussion about trade and energy policy, Senator McCain touted the need to create education and training programs for displaced workers at community colleges.

Senator Obama spoke several times about the need for the nation to make sure more people can go to college and said the government should put more money into education to make sure every young person can learn. He noted that his running mate, Joseph R. Biden Jr., shares his priority about expanding college access.

Crossposted from The Chronicle of Higher Education's Campaign U. blog.

Public Education Network sums up candidate positions

The Public Education Network provides a nifty side-by-side compare and contrast of the candidates' positions on various education issues, including No Child Left Behind, teachers, early childhood education, college affordability, among others.

Education and Spending in Last Night's Debate

In Tuesday night’s town-hall debate at Belmont University, Barack Obama and John McCain spent much of the 90-minute event discussing the nation’s economic turmoil, government reform, and energy, tax, health-care, and foreign policies. But the presidential candidates did touch on spending and policy issues that would affect higher education.

Senator Obama spoke about making college affordability a priority even as he would rein in government spending in other areas. Senator McCain focused on eliminating spending he considers wasteful, including federal earmarks that often benefit college projects, and advocated an across-the-board freeze in federal spending.

When responding to a question by the debate’s moderator, Tom Brokaw, about how he would prioritize the issues of energy, health care, and entitlement reform, Senator Obama said energy would be his top priority, health care would be his second, and education his third. Education, the Democratic nominee said, has to be near the top of the list so the nation can help young people be competitive in the global economy.

In response to a separate question about what sacrifices he would ask the American people to make to help fix the economy and improve the nation, Senator Obama said he would seek incentives to decrease energy consumption and also to encourage volunteerism (including by doubling the ranks of the Peace Corps), something he said he found young people to be especially interested in.

Senator Obama also said that the federal government needed to cut spending, but he singled out efforts to improve college affordability as an area where spending should be increased and not decreased. Citing his own past, and his ability to attend college with the help of scholarships, he said the American dream seemed to be diminishing, in part because young people “who’ve got the grades and the will and the drive to go to college” don’t attend because they don’t have the money.

Senator McCain, meanwhile, focused on reining in government spending by eliminating earmarks — spending that individual lawmakers allocate on a noncompetitive basis to colleges and other entities — and by freezing most federal spending. The areas he singled out as exceptions that might receive more government support were defense and veterans affairs.

“Obviously we’ve got to stop the spending spree that’s going on in Washington,” the Republican candidate said, adding that he wanted to reduce the debt that is being left to young people.

(This item was crossposted from The Chronicle of Higher Education's Campaign U. blog.)

NEA prez says he's still happy with Obama

Today I interviewed Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association. He's in Nashville flying his Obama flag for tonight's presidential debate.

Van Roekel said that in his opinion, education is at the center of this presidential election, since it is so closely tied into the economy and health care. He also said the group is 100 percent behind Obama, despite the debate about whether his ideas for reform were in line with the group's traditional views.

“I am not just voting for him, I believe he will create an America we all want,” Van Roekel said.

The organization, which represents 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers and faculty, endorsed Obama in July. They are the nation’s largest professional organization.

Van Roekel said the group endorsed Obama because of his emphasis on reforming No Child Left Behind and preschool education.

Counter to WSJ article

From past EWA president Linda Lenz in a column in the Chicago Sun-Times. Walter Annenberg, an ambassador under President Ronald Reagan, is probably shaking his head in the great beyond...

Edited to add: Alexander Russo also raises a skeptical eyebrow. He should know: he wrote the chapter in a Fordham Foundation report on the annals of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Foundation.

This certainly hasn't come up in Obama's education platform

WSJ opinion piece says Obama was on the board of education foundation with a 1960s radical from 1995-99, which gave more than than $100 million to community organizers.

WaPost says McCain ads are lies

The Washington Post is defending Education Week and Barack Obama by claiming that Sen. McCain's new TV spots stretch the truth.
The editorial also disputes McCain's claim that Obama supported sex ed for kindergarteners, which is something I have seen rereported on many blogs on the Web.
Check out the Post's attempt to set the record straight here.

Chicago roots in Obama's education plan...

This New York Times story nicely lays out the Chicago influences in Obama's education plan. Interesting there was no mention of the fact that the senator sends his daughters to an expensive private school there. With Gov. Palin making such as impact in the race (her kids attend local public schools), I can't imagine this will remain an untouched issue for long.

Obama outlines his education proposals

(Barack Obama speaks about education in Dayton, Ohio, Tuesday.)

There weren't a lot of new ideas from Barack Obama Tuesday during an education speech in Dayton, Ohio. The headline was his support of doubling to $400 million the amount of federal aid for charter schools. Otherwise, he mostly emphasized proposals he has made in the past.

Among the initiatives he highlighted:

--Heavier investment in early childhood education. He is pushing to expand federal aid for pre-school programs.

--College tax break. Obama wants to offer a $4,000 tax credit for students willing to commit to community or military service after college.

--New teachers. He wants to recruit new teachers to the profession using service scholarships

--Replacing bad teachers. Obama said there should be a way to remove bad teachers from the profession, but said he was open to a variety of ways to do that.

--Pay for performance. He repeated his admiration for programs, such as on in Dayton, that gives extra pay to teachers who demonstrate high performance.

--Longer school days. He hinted that the U.S. may have to consider instituting a longer school day, pointing to other nations that have it.

--Graduation rate. Obama pledged to make the U.S. No. 1 for high school graduation rate. (I noticed he didn't pledge to make the country No.1 in the world for test scores.)

--College level courses. He said he wants to increase by 50 percent the number of high school kids taking college level or AP courses.

--Innovative school funds. He wants special funds targeted to support schools trying new ideas.

--New charter accountability. In addition to giving more money to charter schools, Obama called for stricter accountability to shut down bad charter schools.

--After school and summer school. Citing China he said if other nations can offer these programs, the U.S. should find a way to do the same.

--New classroom technology. Obama said he wanted to improve school technology by adding new tools like video "smart boards" and student laptops to classrooms.

--Paying for it all. Obama said all this could be paid for by redirecting the cost of just a few days in Iraq

--Testing. He was critical of "teaching to the test" and called on teachers to be a part of an effort to create "new assessments" for the future.

--Accountability. Obama called for "parent contracts" in which parents would promise to do their part to help their kids in school and promised an annual address to the nation to discuss progress toward education goals.

This post also appears on my education blog, Get on the Bus.

(Image credit: Jan Underwood, Dayton Daily News)

Obama touts charters, performance pay, after school programs in Ohio

Today I'm at a Dayton, Ohio, high school where Barack Obama will make what is being described as a "major policy speech" on education.

For excerpts from Obama's upcoming speech touting charter schools, teacher performance pay and after school programs, hop over to the Get on the Bus education blog.

What is Barack Obama's take on education? That's not as easy to explain as you might think. To learn more about the battle within the Democratic Party two big education camps for Obama's allegiance, go here.

Obama's ed advisers

Last week, we noted that McCain's education adviser blogged during the DNC convention for Eduwonk. Now Obama's advisers are following suit. They're starting with a 10-point education plan.

Democrats sparring unions?

Democratic platform on education doesn't sit well with many union leaders, as this article by USA Today's Greg Toppo lays out. While school reformers have staked out a place at Obama's political table this election, it appears likely the candidate will split the differences throughout the campaign. If elected, Obama may not have to show his hand until it comes to reauthorizing No Child Left Behind.

Richard Whitmire

College Students at the Convention

Chronicle reporter Kelly Field has continued to file a series of dispatches from Denver at our Campaign U. blog.

Among the items that have been posted there over the past two days are:

A video in which college students who supported Hillary Clinton explain how they now feel about Barack Obama;

An item about professors and students who are using the convention as a teaching tool; and

A summary of a panel discussion about activists' efforts to get out the youth vote in new ways.

You can also read about how students rate Jill Biden as a community-college instructor.

DNC: Skyboxes, Unions, and School Choice

More highlights from the Democratic National Convention, via EdWeek's Campaign K-12 blog:

ED in '08 is looking beyond '08.

Look who gets a skybox view of Hillary Clinton's speech.

AFT delegates, for the most part, are leaving Clinton behind and moving on.

Democrats are embracing school choice (okay,just some of them.)

--Michele McNeil
Education Week

Union Tensions at DNC

There are two of us from Education Week here in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, and although education is not the hottest topic, there's certainly plenty for David Hoff and I to write about.

We're blogging several times a day over at EdWeek's Campaign K-12, but here are some highlights so far, and it's only Tuesday:

Folks from the Education Equality project engage in some union-bashing, prompting AFT president Randi Weingarten to tell me she's "really pissed."

Three educators get prime, on-stage speaking parts in last night's festivities.

And, school choice advocates gather at the Denver Country Club to talk ed reform.

Democratic Platform Proposes More Money for Student Aid and Research

The policy platform that Democrats approved at their convention yesterday promises more federal student aid, greater support for research, and an end to the politicization of science.

It largely mirrors Barack Obama's plans for education and science, including proposals the presumed nominee has pressed to provide a refundable $4,000 education tax credit in exchange for public service and to simplify the process of applying for student aid by allowing families to apply by checking a box on their federal income-tax forms.

The document also promises to double federal funds for basic science research, make the research-and-development tax credit permanent, and lift the ban on the use of federal money for research involving embryonic stem cells that would otherwise have been discarded.

And on the subject of racial preferences, the document states: "We support affirmative action, including in federal contracting and higher education, to make sure that those locked out of the doors of opportunity will be able to walk through those doors in the future."

See The Chronicle's story today, written by Kelly Field, for more details about what the document proposes for higher education.

For continuing coverage of the convention, check out our Campaign U. blog.

Live and in color: DNC educator delegates speak

David Hoff from Ed Week has posted video with DNC educator delegates offering their opinion on Obama’s platform. Check it out.